‘The current regime of confiscation orders is failing to deprive criminals of the proceeds of their crimes. The Law Commission of England and Wales must seize the opportunity to reform the law in this area as part of its 13th programme of law reform.’

“The Law Commission is currently consulting on how best to shape its criminal work programme for 2017 – 2020. It would be enormously helpful to us if you could mention and include the link to this survey in your current awareness blog/email to help us amplify consultation:

‘The law relating to financial orders is inherently unclear. It is not possible to discern from the statute what the law requires, although the courts and family lawyers administer the law with confidence’.

‘This project is complete. We laid our report before Parliament on 13 July 2016 and await the Government’s response.
This project, which was commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), considered whether greater protection is needed for consumers who lose deposits or gift vouchers when retailers or other service providers become insolvent.’

‘The UK’s unjustified threats legislation is intended to prevent IP rights-holders from abusive behaviour – threatening to sue a competitor’s customers, for example, to persuade them to take their business elsewhere. While there is still a place for these rules, they have become outdated and inconsistent between the various forms of IP. The Intellectual Property (Unjustified Threats) Bill aims to tidy up and modernise the threats rules.’

‘The Law Commission is reviewing the legal framework that governs the registration of land in England and Wales. In a consultation opening on Thursday 31 March the Commission – the independent body that advises government on law reform – is asking how the Land Registration Act 2002 is working in practice and whether there are opportunities for the system to be clarified and updated.’

‘A new formula for determining which of two innocent parties of a land fraud should keep the property in question is among proposals for reform of the legal framework governing land registration in England and Wales to be published today.’

‘The Supreme Court has overturned two House of Lords judgments in ruling that the multiplier in assessing damages for fatal accident claims should be calculated from the date of the trial, not the date of death.’

‘Like the 179,000 or so people selected at random from the electoral register each year in England and Wales, in July 2011 Ms. Theodora Dallas was summoned to attend jury service. Along with other jurors summoned that day, she was shown a video about their service, and told by the court’s jury officer that internet research about anyone involved in the trial was not permitted. For good measure, the jury waiting room contained notices stating “You may also be in contempt of court if you use the internet to research details about any cases you hear along with any cases listed for trial at the Court…”. The notices made it clear that contempt of court was punishable by a fine or by imprisonment.’

‘What is misconduct? And who is in public office? The existing law that governs misconduct in public office does not provide clear answers to either of these questions, according to the Law Commission.

Today the Law Commission launched a consultation aimed at exploring how the current law is being used and discovering the problems caused in practice by the law’s lack of clarity.’

‘A new test is needed to establish who is unfit to plead. The existing rules for deciding whether a defendant is unfit to participate in a criminal trial – and what the courts should do if they are not – are out of date, misunderstood and inconsistently applied.’